Moneyville’s Beat the Fees series shined a light on the nickels, dimes and dollars Canadians pay to their banks, telephone companies, and cellphone and Internet providers.

We told you how these fees work, and how you can beat them and keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket.

Here’s what you told us: you hate phone fees — especially that Touch Tone Service fee.

You hate locking into cellphone contracts. And when companies offer fabulous deals to entice new customers, existing ones — never mind loyalty — are barred from those same offers.

You hate foreign bank account fees and foreign exchange fees, but you do love bank freebies and credit unions.

You shared your tips for knocking out fees, from comparison shopping and threatening to pull your business to switching credit cards and accounts to maintaining a minimum balance to shunning debit cards altogether.

Most importantly, you told us that you have to ask to get what you want.

“You have to speak up,” Katie Thorpe said

On a routine visit to the bank during the summer, Thorpe, then 61, and her 63-year-old husband John Carruthers realized that they were both eligible for senior discounts – and that they had been since the age of 59.

“It’s a funny age. That never would have clicked in our heads. I just assumed it was 65,” Thorpe said. “I said, ‘How would I have known this? I don’t spend my life reading your website.’”

Combined, they paid about $20 each month on service charges. Those charges are history now, and the bank reimbursed a portion of the fees they had already paid.

Thorpe wants to share her story with others.

“I just wrote in because I was reading the series and I thought, ‘this is a great forum to tell seniors or almost-seniors who may not be aware of this,’” she wrote in an email to Moneyville.ca.

Another tale of “saving just by asking” came from Jeff Oram in Manitoba.

He had to pay $9 a month for a student account unless he maintained a minimum balance of $1,500.

“I went in and asked to get this reduced. I felt it was too much to ask for a student,” Oram wrote. “They asked for a student card and promptly waived the fees.”

Now he has the student account features but doesn’t pay the fees associated with falling below the monthly minimum balance.

Darlene Varaleau wondered about the 2.5 per cent fee on all foreign transactions.

“Even when the Canadian dollar reaches par we are charged a 2.5 per cent transaction fee to buy U.S. dollars. What a huge money grab. Where are our regulators on this one?”

We’ll get some more information about that fee, and report back.

But some readers have figured out a way around it using PC Financial.

“I just deposit it to my normal PC chequing account for the face value and then once PC posts it to the account in a day or so, they credit my account with the exchange difference, which has always been within reason of the going exchange rate at the time of deposit,” Larry Hall wrote.

When it comes to beating telephone fees, Moneyville.ca editor Adam Mayers isn’t the only one who loves to Yak at a discount. Readers said they love the discount long-distance provider, and they suggested other favourites, such as 10-10-229.

Kingsley Welton favours Select.com, which charges 3.5 cents a minute on calls to Canada and the U.S. What else does he love? They bill for partial minutes.

“Not a big thing but over a month it can save you a bit if you make a lot of short long distance calls,” Welton wrote. By the way, the connection fee is $2.95 a month.

The Pickering, Ont. resident also likes the paperless billing and set up a 1-800 number – very handy when his daughter was at university – for no extra charges.

Readers also shared their biggest pet peeve: “Why does Bell still charge $2.80 for Touch Tone service when we haven’t used rotary dial for 30 years?” was a common question.

We asked Bell Canada; the company says the item appears on your monthly bill because the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requires it to be itemized separately, and that all telephone companies charge their customers for touch tone.

Verna Hamilton emailed to say that reading Beat the Fees struck a chord with her.

She phoned Rogers cable to say that she needed to reduce her monthly fee because she realized that going with Bell could save her about $10 a month.

The customer service representative passed her on to another who noticed she has been with Rogers for more than 30 years. Then he reduced her fee to $76.67 a month from $114, for one year.

“I was very happy,” Hamilton wrote.

Unlike Mayers, Brian Sweeney isn’t convinced that a Canadian Automobile Association membership is worth the money.

Instead, Brian Sweeney uses his TD Gold Card. He pays an annual fee of $90 but roadside service is one of the features. “The savings on CAA pays for my TD card fee and since I get 1 per cent back on all purchases, I actually make money on the card each year,” Sweeney wrote. “I use that card for everything.”

Thomas Donohue turned those annoying marketing calls to his advantage.

“Once in awhile Bell Canada calls to ask how everything is. Usually I say just fine and try to get off the phone quickly. One time, I replied that the charges were too high and can they do anything about it. I was told yes, and I got a $10 a month deduction for 12 months. From now on, I use the same tactic whenever I get similar calls.”

Ask Pam McDivitt how she saves on fees and you’ll get a tale of will power.

“I haven’t paid bank fees for many years,” she wrote.

A couple of years ago, she saved up $1,000 and put it in her chequing account that she uses most. Now she ignores it, and saves at least $100 a year on fees.

“That’s like getting 10 per cent and you don’t get that very often these days. It’s been tempting from time to time to spend that $1,000 but I stayed on track.”

And get this: she doesn’t have a debit card.

“I refuse to subscribe to a program that benefits banks. If I need money, I make sure that I have enough on a weekly basis when I bank. If I run out, I use my credit card and always pay the balance owing each month,” McDivitt wrote. “Why should the bank take my hard-earned money?”

Good question.

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew is part of the Moms on Money blogging team

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